Broun Backs Jack — Updated

We received a text through the tip line that said Congressman Jack Kingston just tweeted out that his colleague and former opponent Congressman Paul Broun has made a late endorsement for Kingston:

Congressman Broun had been pretty silent after coming in 5th in the May 20th primary, but now throws his weight behind his fellow Congressman.

Discuss if this influences your vote…or not in the comments.

:: Update from Jon ::

There has been some question about whether Congressman Broun endorsed Jack Kingston for Senate. Nathan is right, our original tipster said that Kingston put “an endorsement from Paul Broun” on FB and Twitter.

A spokesman for the Kingston campaign told us that Broun had left a voicemail for the candidate indicating Broun had told a radio audience he voted for Kingston, and that he said Jack was the conservative choice. That’s what led to the tweet and Facebook post, which simply quoted from the voicemail.

Does that qualify as an endorsement? Merriam Webster says the meaning of endorse is “to publicly or officially say that you support or approve of (someone or something).” In my opinion saying you voted for a candidate, which in the end is the highest endorsement you can provide, qualifies as an endorsement. But, your mileage may vary.

The challenge of defining the true meaning of endorse is what keeps campaign finance lawyers in business. The recent controversy over whether Better Georgia went outside the permissible boundaries of advocacy given its tax status is the most recent example of this.

We’re not lawyers, nor are we a tax exempt group. We simply note the Kingston didn’t use the word endorse in its tweet. If we used it by mistake … well, we regret the error and blame others.

15 comments

Ideologically, this makes no sense, Kingston has always been a reasonable, go along to get along type of guy and Broun is pure unadulterated crazy. But Kingston is also also to win….Broun still has future political aspirations, I guess.

Personally, I’m more influenced by the Waka Flocka endorsement of David Perdue. I’d rather stand with a real person than listen to a washed-up politician recommend that I vote for a career politician who loves ever bigger government.

Jacks endorsements from the “stick together for our own good” crowd should convince the majority not happy that we’re tired and it is time to change the diapers. Perdue doesn’t have to go along to leave office rich or powerful. But the good old boys have a lot of favors to collect and sprinkle around.